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The following details my leg Workout of the Day from Kirkland Gold’s Gym. I trained with my daughter’s boyfriend, Eli. Here are the details of our training session:

Lying Leg Curls

  • Set 1 x 20 reps with 65 pounds (warm-up)
  • Set 2 x 10 (1.5) reps with 95 pounds
  • Set 3 x 10 dead-stop reps with 110 pounds
  • Set 4 x 6 reps + 12 partial reps with 125 pounds
  • Set 5 x 30-second negative + 10 reps + 30-second negative with 50 pounds

After a single, high-rep, warm-up set I varied the next four sets of Lying Leg Curls significantly. Set 2 will be 10 (1.5) reps meaning you curl the weight all the way up, lower to full extension, curl halfway up and lower to full extension. That counts as one rep, so perform 10 in this manner. Set 3 is a straight set of dead-stop reps where you allow the weight to bottom out for a brief second on each rep before curling the weight as explosively as possible. On Set 4, increase the weight and perform six reps immediately followed by 12 partial reps out of the fully extended position. Set 5 starts with a full 30-second negative, immediately followed by 10 reps with another 30-second negative on the final rep. That equates to a full minute of eccentric targeted hamstrings with 10 reps in the middle.

Cambered Bar Squats

We carried forward a couple of the previous techniques to this exercise, and it was brutal. I used a bar similar to the elitefts Rackable Cambered Squat Bar.

  • Set 1 x 20 reps with 95 pounds (warm-up)
  • Set 2 x 15 reps with 135 pounds (warm-up)
  • Set 3 x 8 (1.5) reps with 185 pounds
  • Set 4 x 8 (1.5) reps with 185 pounds
  • Set 5 x 30 second negative + 8 reps + 20 second negative

Due to my lower back issues, I’m always looking for ways to make exercises more difficult without adding pounds. Today, the goal was to increase time under tension. The first two sets I counted as warm-ups. For Sets 3 and 4, we used the 1.5 rep technique, which increased quad tension and blew up our legs. I dropped the weight back down a little for Set 5 and attempted the 30-second negative + 10 reps + 30-second negative scheme we did on the leg curls. I only got eight reps and 20 seconds on the final negative. Give these a try, and your legs will go to Jell-O with a small amount of weight.

Ground Base Squats

I moved to this exercise next to take the emphasis somewhat off our quads. It primarily hits my glutes. I used a ground base similar to the elitefts Core Blaster.

  • Set 1 x 10 reps with three 35-pound plates
  • Set 2 x 10 reps with four 35-pound plates
  • Set 3 x 10 reps with five 35-pound plates
  • Set 4 x 10 reps with six 35-pound plates

Take a wide stance with your toes angled outward. Maintain a flat lower back and drive your hips forward while flexing your glutes on each rep.

Superset: Leg Extensions and Cable Pull-Throughs

I decided to finish off quads with some leg extensions supersets with cable pull-throughs. Use a moderately heavy weight for the extensions for sets of 10 reps. Move straight to the pull-throughs focusing on stretching your hamstrings at the bottom. Perform this superset for three rounds.

That concluded this leg workout.

Train hard!

— Mark

Back and Bis Workout of the Day with Banded Pullovers and Spider Crawl Superset

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